Father apologizes to mother of baby allegedly shaken to death

<<<VIDEOS:  Clark Co. man arraigned in daughter's death | Full interview with Hayslip |  Father: 'I didn't mean to hurt her | Hayslip:'If I could take back everything, I would'

UPDATE @ 11:40 a.m. (Dec 29)

Brian Hayslip spoke exclusively with NewsCenter 7’s John Bedell.

Hayslip had tears in his eyes as he apologized.

"[I’m] Probably going to think about it for the rest of my life,” Hayslip told Bedell at the Clark County Jail.

“ I'm never going to forget about it...I'm sorry for everything I've ever done.”

“If I could take back everything I did I would,” Hayslip told News Center 7. “I just want to tell Brittany, my ex-fiance, that I'm sorry."

UPDATE @ 10:37 a.m. (Dec. 29): 

Brain Hayslip appeared in court today pleading not guilty to the charge of murder.  Hayslip has requested a public defender and his bond has been set at $300,000.

UPDATE @ 8:16 a.m. (Dec. 29):

Brian Hayslip is now being housed in the Clark County Jail on a murder charge and is expected to appear in Clark County Municipal Court this morning to be arraigned on the charge, according to records.

UPDATE @ 6:30 p.m. (Dec. 28):

Brian Hayslip admitted to shaking his 3-month-old daughter, Lilly Hayslip, which resulted in her death Tuesday at his home in the 3800 block of Lawrenceville Drive in German Twp., according to an affidavit filed Wednesday in Clark County Municipal Court.

Lilly’s preliminary cause of death is a subdural hematoma to the brain, according to the Miami Valley Crime Lab.

Hayslip, who is being held at the Mercer County  Adult Detention Facility, said he shook Lilly after she began crying while he was feeding her. He then put her down, but the infant continued to cry so he shook her some more, when she began to vomit on her clothes, the couch and play mat, the record stated.

Hayslip changed Lilly’s clothes and put her in the car seat and left the house in his truck, when minutes later noticed she was deceased. He then drove to Mercer County, where he intended to bury her in a remote area, according to the affidavit. Hayslip’s truck with Lilly’s body inside was found around 5:30 p.m. in Mercer County. Hayslip was found, following a K-9 search of the area, in a field covered in mud, according to the affidavit.

The family of Lilly’s mother declined an interview, but Hayslip’s brother, Daniel Hayslip, said he hopes people suspend judgment until all the facts are revealed.

"He was extremely good with her," he said of his brother. "He was always so careful about everything. He was a new father that was scared and wanted to make sure everything he was doing was correct. He just loved her so much."

Daniel Hayslip said he believes Lilly’s death was an accident and that his brother panicked.

UPDATE @ 3:16 p.m. (Dec. 28):

The Mercer and Clark county sheriff’s offices have determined that the death of Lilly Hayslip occured in Clark County, despite her body and father being located in Mercer County, according to Mercer County Sheriff Jeff Grey.

After the prosecutor’s offices in both county discussed the case, it was determined that the prosecution will occur in Clark County, Grey said.

“This is an example of how agencies are supposed to work together to ensure that justice is served,” Grey said.  “I am proud of the work by all involved.”

We are working to obtain body camera footage from Mercer County deputies that would show Brian Hayslip being taken into custody.

UPDATE @ 1:31 p.m. (Dec. 28):

An autopsy on the 3-month-old baby girl found dead in a car seat in rural Mercer County will be performed at the Montgomery County Coroner’s Office.

Officials said the body of Lilly Hayslip is currently at the Montgomery County Coroner’s Office, however, no details on her death are being released as the case is being investigated by the Mercer County Coroner’s Office.

Multiple calls to speak with the Mercer County coroner have not be returned.

In Clark County, Lilly Hayslip’s mother, Brittany Bruce, called 911 to report the baby and her father Brian Hayslip missing Tuesday afternoon.

A German Twp. Police incident report shows Brittany Bruce asked for an officer at 2:10 p.m. She said Brian Hayslip, 22, was supposed to drop the baby off at her mother’s house at noon and then go to work at 2 p.m.

He never showed, according to the report.

“I phoned (the company) and they said Brian did not show up to work today,” Officer Ryan Axle wrote in the report. “I phoned Brian multiple times and left voice messages for him to call into dispatch so we can speak.”

Axle said the mother told him there was no argument before the disappearance and that she feared Hayslip might be suffering from mental illness. The officer said a witness saw Hayslip leave the home.

“The neighbor said he saw Brian leave in the Ford truck around 1 p.m.,” Axle wrote.

The child was eventually found dead in a car seat about three hours later, Mercer County officials said. Hayslip was arrested and is awaiting charges.

UPDATE @ 10:57 a.m. (Dec. 28):

A 3-month-old Clark County girl is dead and her father is in custody after being found in a field in Mercer County.

Brian Hayslip, 22, was arrested Tuesday afternoon in Mercer County and being held on a murder charge.

A 911 caller in Mercer County found a child dead in a car seat in a truck along a rural road.

That discovery came just a few hours after the child’s mother called 911 in Clark County to report Hayslip and their 3-month-old daughter missing from their German Twp. home on Lawrenceville Drive.

The mother and her parents were driving around looking for Hayslip when they called 911, and the dispatcher told her to return home and meet a deputy who would assist her.

“We’re together. We live together, everything’s fine,” the woman told the dispatcher. “I don’t know why all the sudden this would happen.”

She said Brian Hayslip left the house around noon with their daughter.

The mother said she could not reach him, so, “I went to the house, I left work and went to the house, and the diaper bag is gone, and they weren’t there.”

UPDATE @ 10:27 a.m. (Dec. 28):

A 911 call released by the Mercer County Sheriff’s Office Wednesday morning indicates two men discovered the deceased baby inside a running pickup truck in the 6100 block of Wabash Road.

“There’s a pickup truck partway up our drive way pulled up in the mud,” the first caller told 911.  “There’s a little baby in there.”

The caller told deputies no one else was in the vehicle.

The first caller’s son also talked to 911 operators and said he actually discovered the baby, he described as being less than a year old, in a car seat.

The son also told dispatchers he found the ID of Brian Hayslip, but did not see Hayslip in the area.

“I don’t know if the person would still be around,” the caller said.

UPDATE @ 10:12 a.m. (Dec. 28):

Mercer County deputies responded to a residence on Wabash Road in Washington Twp. after receiving a 911 call from a person reporting that they found an infant in a car seat inside a running truck.

According to deputies, the baby was pronounced dead at the scene.

A K-9 was called to the scene after an ID was found for Brian Hayslip, of Springfield, and Hayslip was found in an open field next to a wooded area.

Hayslip was taken into custody and transported to the Mercer County Jail and is being held on a preliminary charge of murder, however no official charges have been filed in the case.

Deputies said Hayslip had been reported missing prior to deputies discovering him.

An autopsy on the baby’s body will be conducted later today.

INITIAL REPORT:

Deputies were notified by the mother of the infant Tuesday when she reported she was unable to find the child.

Lt. Christopher Clark with the Clark County Sheriff’s Office said the child’s father, 22-year-old Brian Hayslip, was supposed to be with the child when the mother made the report. Hayslip was later located and arrested in rural Mercer County on a preliminary charge of murder.

“We really don’t know what the connection to Mercer County is at this point, [it’s] something we’re working on developing,” Clark said. “At this point, we’re still gathering information from [the  Mercer County Sheriff’s Office]. We’re working very closely with them, we’re in constant communications with them.”

RELATED: Man arrested in Mercer Co. on murder charge

The child’s preliminary cause of death was not released by investigators. The Montgomery County Coroner’s Office will conduct an examination on the infant to determine the cause and manner of death, Clark said. It was not clear where the body of the infant was recovered.

Following his arrest, investigators with the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, along with the Clark County Sheriff’s Office surrounded Hayslip’s home in the 3800 block of Lawrenceville Drive in German Twp. Investigators later entered the home around 10 p.m. and searched the home into early Wednesday morning.

VIDEOS: Large police presence at Clark Co. home | Man arrested in Mercer Co.

Clark said investigators have several questions that so far remain unanswered, including a possible motive for the crime and the custody situation surrounding the parents and child.

“It’s never easy dealing with the death of anyone, but infants really strike home, especially when a lot of us have children at home,” Clark said. “It’s never an easy thing, and we want to make sure we do our due diligence, collect every last piece of evidence, talk to every witness possible to make sure we have everything right when we do this.”

Clark said investigators from the Clark and Mercer county sheriff’s offices and the Ohio BCI will meet on Wednesday to share information.

DOWNLOAD OUR FREE NEWS APPS FOR THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS